A UK manufacturing boom has helped Luton-based
Bruderer UK, a subsidiary of one of the world’s leading press manufacturers, secure its largest pipeline of new machine orders in years. The company, which employs 12 people, is in the process of installing its seventh new high-speed press in the last 12 months - a 50% increase on the same stage last year.
Bruderer managing director Adrian Haller (pictured left) believes interest in its industry-leading technology and technical ‘know-how’ is soaring thanks to a concerted reshoring drive that is seeing supply chains shorten in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and domestic manufacturing becoming increasingly more competitive when compared to low-cost countries.
This has seen customers from the automotive, electrification, aerospace, medical, food and construction sectors engage on a host of turnkey projects that will involve complete production solution lines being installed.
Engineers from Bruderer are now in the middle of their busiest period for over a decade and are installing full turnkey high-speed press lines — from 25 to 50 tonnes — inclusive of tooling, servo feeders, decoilers, multi-way rewinders, vision systems and press and tool monitoring systems.
Mr Haller added: “There is a real resurgence taking place and we need to talk about it more — orders are up, investment is up, and industry is desperately crying out for more workers. UK industry is bouncing back from the shackles of the pandemic and we tend to be a good barometer for the health of the sector. While our refurbishment and repair work has always been strong, this is definitely our best year for a long time for new machine installs.”
He continued: “All of this is being achieved against a backdrop of rising energy prices and inflation. There is also a big challenge around recruitment and attracting young people and mature workers back into industry – a challenge that is being exacerbated by the service sector hiking up salaries.”
Bruderer UK is a market leader in high precision punching technology and turnkey solutions. Its high-speed presses are synonymous with maximum performance, at highest precision with unsurpassed reliability in the sheet metal stamping and forming industry. The company range is focused on the BSTA series with a nominal force of 18 to 250 tonnes and a stroke rate range of between 1 to 3,000spm.
Mr Haller explained: “There is a real appetite to invest in the latest technology and we must be prepared for this by ensuring we have the capabilities and technical expertise on hand to identify the right solutions for clients — solutions that will deliver cost savings, new capacity, and efficiencies. We are responding to the challenge by putting plans in place for further investments in the UK - more news will follow once contracts are signed.”
He concluded: “There is also
MACH 2024 to plan for and I am delighted to announce we will be taking our biggest ever stand as part of the new
MMMA Sheet Metalworking Village.”